NewMark Merrill Mountain States, owners of the mall, have announced that August 1 will be Day One of the mall's demolition. The 100-ton excavator and claw will have a target as it proceeds to tear into the building: a giant Gamma Acosta mural being painted on the former Sears building, on the northwest corner of the mall.

McFetridge said his connection with Acosta grew out of conversations he had been having with Joanne Kirves, executive director of Longmont Council for the Arts. He said the two have been talking about some ideas for how Village at the Peaks, the new center that NewMark Merrill is building on the mall property, might be able to support the local artists' community in Longmont.

"Kicking some ideas around with her, she referred some great local artists and one of those was Gamma," said McFetridge, who added that he was very impressed with Acosta's work.

And the artist is no stranger to working with large canvases: one of his works of a couple years ago, "Overflow," depicted what appeared to be giant gallons of paint dripping down the side of the Longmont Museum & Cultural Center.

But that's not the only painting Acosta is going to be doing on the building before it goes away.

"On the east side, he's going to basically get a blank palette," McFetridge said. "I think he's got a full team he's planning to bring in."

The west entrance of Twin Peaks Mall is seen in this December 2006 photo.

Acosta's work on the east side will be visible from Kline Drive, east of the mall's ring road and across from the theater, and also on the outside of the ring road near Taco Bell and Burger King on the south side.

Though the closing of the UA Twin Peaks 10 on Sunday marks the official end of activity at Twin Peaks Mall, demolition work already has begun on the interior.

First, representatives from Habitat for Humanity and Boulder's ReSource Yard were allowed to come in and take out some of the furnishings. Wednesday night, members of the public were invited to participate in Pacific Auction's sale, and Habitat and ReSource will be allowed to come in once more and pick over what's left, McFetridge said.

Whatever remains will be reused, as much as possible, he said. Because the contractors will install all new infrastructure underground, including electric, sewer and fiber optic lines, the site will be completely ripped up. Plans are to reuse the brick as filler for the parking lots, and the asphalt will also be ground up on-site.

"The theme is to recycle, reuse and repurpose as much of this existing building as possible," McFetridge said.

Late next week, after people who bought things at auction have had a chance to remove their items, the Longmont Police SWAT team and Longmont Fire Department will be back in the building doing more training. This time, the police and fire crews will have free rein to destroy pretty much whatever they want to, he said.

"They have my permission to blow stuff up," McFetridge said with a chuckle. "In a perfect world I would like them to drive a car through the front door, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to pull that off."

Not only is NewMark Merrill providing local first responders with training and employing local artists, it's also using the pending demolition to raise money for the I Have A Dream Foundation.

NewMark Merrill is auctioning off three special VIP seats to the demolition, with the winning bidders getting a guided helicopter tour of the project site with NewMark Merrill and city officials. In addition, one member of the community attending the demolition event will be chosen to take a turn operating the 100-ton excavator, as will the three VIP winners of the auction.

Construction of Village at the Peaks will begin later this year, following demolition. The majority of the center, which will be anchored by Whole Foods, Sam's Club and a new Regal theater, should be open by the holiday shopping season in 2015.

For more information on the project or to bid to become one of the VIPs at the demolition, visit villageatthepeaks.com.

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